# Is this the death of cheap beer? MillerCoors boots PBR **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** beer\ **Created:** [November 13, 2018, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-death-of-cheap-beer-millercoors-boots-pbr/824473 "2018-11-13T19:08:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-death-of-cheap-beer-millercoors-boots-pbr/824473/21 "2018-11-13T22:20:01Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > Anybody know if this list includes Hamm’s? 😕 Hamm’s is brewed by MillerCoors. And I’m pretty sure Sierra Nevada’s Mills River brewery is near or at capacity. At the very least it doesn’t have the capacity to do all of Pabst’s brews. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-death-of-cheap-beer-millercoors-boots-pbr/824473/22 "2018-11-13T22:32:04Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Hamm’s is brewed by MillerCoors. But Pabst is brewed by Miller as well. I guess this “contract brewing” is the difference? Pabst is its own company that pays Miller to brew its beers, while Miller owns Hamm’s outright? I hadn’t really heard of this situation before. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-death-of-cheap-beer-millercoors-boots-pbr/824473/23 "2018-11-13T22:36:00Z")
That’s it. MillerCoors owns the Hamm’s mark. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-death-of-cheap-beer-millercoors-boots-pbr/824473/24 "2018-11-13T23:16:24Z")
My brother is gonna shit. He likes his Pearl. I ain’t telling him. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-death-of-cheap-beer-millercoors-boots-pbr/824473/25 "2018-11-13T23:27:54Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > I don’t understand that lawsuit. “You MUST renew our contract or we will sue to MAKE you renew our contract!”?? My reaction as well. I guess there might be some “restraint of trade” or monopoly type of allegations. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2018, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-death-of-cheap-beer-millercoors-boots-pbr/824473/26 "2018-11-14T00:05:54Z")
Wait… no PBR is a \*bad thing? \*😕 ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2018, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-death-of-cheap-beer-millercoors-boots-pbr/824473/27 "2018-11-14T00:18:38Z")
I don’t care for PBR. Tastes like liquid corn. IMO the best cheap beer is [Bürger Classic](https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/431/5748/). But it’s a Cincinnati beer, so I am not sure how available it is outside Ohio. Unlike most other cheap beers - which are made with a mixture of barley and corn - I’m almost positive Bürger is made with 100% barley. I still need to confirm this. Emails to Christian Moerlein have gone unanswered. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2018, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-death-of-cheap-beer-millercoors-boots-pbr/824473/28 "2018-11-14T00:39:55Z")
The last sentence of the linked article > [@](#): > > \*\* It won’t spell the end of cheap beer\*\*, but you may have to say goodbye to the only liquid you drank through your four years of undergraduate studies. Elsewhere the article references Pabst complaining that MillerCoors is planning to do this to give their own brands that compete with Pabst an advantage. MillerCoors doesn’t get much advantage if they completely abandon the market segment. They also can’t use the market power to vastly jack up prices since there’s another major conglomerate that cranks out it’s own brands to compete. It might be the death of PBR and a couple other brands. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2018, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-death-of-cheap-beer-millercoors-boots-pbr/824473/29 "2018-11-14T00:42:01Z")
There are times (fishing comes to mind) when a corn beer is what I’m looking for. Usually that means Busch. If I can’t find Shaefer, and I usually can’t. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2018, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-death-of-cheap-beer-millercoors-boots-pbr/824473/30 "2018-11-14T01:16:41Z")
why cant pabst make its own beer anymore does anyone in Milwaukee make beer anymore ? I remember a few unofficial “bars” that were nothing but tin shacks with windshields for bars tops and possibly stolen picnic tables in the desert and way out places with fridges of various beers and pabst went for 35 cents a can (the underage favorite)…I think the most expensive beers were like becks and such…… and those were like 1.75 a can 3 bucks for a pabst yeesh ….if everyone I grew up with was told that you’d get told where to go, how to get there ,and what you could do with your self when you arrived …… ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2018, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-death-of-cheap-beer-millercoors-boots-pbr/824473/31 "2018-11-14T02:12:28Z")
Pabst can’t make their own beer because they don’t own any breweries, simple as that. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2018, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-death-of-cheap-beer-millercoors-boots-pbr/824473/32 "2018-11-14T02:42:31Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Speak no ill of Old Style! If it disappears, I truly will be sad. My lawnmowing beer of choice (well, we have a service that does that now, but you know what I mean!) I can’t imagine drinking anything else at a neighborhood bar down here on the South/Southwest Side of Chicago. It’s the beer I associate with Chicago and my childhood. There has to be a way to keep this impending catastrophe from my husband. He is gonna lose his shit! ☹ ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2018, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-death-of-cheap-beer-millercoors-boots-pbr/824473/33 "2018-11-14T03:07:39Z")
If you live in the East, find a Yuengling you like, not as cheap as PBR, but pretty cheap. Bonus is they have a lot more taste than PBR and the InBev US mass brews. Saranac, Sam Adams, Sierra Nevada & Brooklyn all have some great but pricier beers. There has got to be a good beer out there for you, the selection is awesome these days. There has to be some fairly inexpensive beers in the West and/or Texas that are better than PBR, Bud, Miller & Coors. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2018, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-death-of-cheap-beer-millercoors-boots-pbr/824473/34 "2018-11-14T04:04:48Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > There has to be some fairly inexpensive beers in the West and/or Texas that are better than PBR, Bud, Miller & Coors. There are. Oly, Lone Star, Rainier… ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2018, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-death-of-cheap-beer-millercoors-boots-pbr/824473/35 "2018-11-14T04:08:36Z")
Schmidt was always my favorite of the cheap beers. It disappeared years ago so meh. For the record, I always found PBR nasty, ditto for Bud. But Schmidt I drank by the case ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2018, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-death-of-cheap-beer-millercoors-boots-pbr/824473/36 "2018-11-14T04:55:17Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > There are times (fishing comes to mind) when a corn beer is what I’m looking for. Usually that means Busch. If I can’t find Shaefer, and I usually can’t. Huge Shaefer’s fan, here, back in the day. I’m surprised I ever found it in Vegas in the 80’s. I understand its big out east. In my little ski town, I laugh at the hipsters paying $2 for a can of PBR, thinking they are getting some kind of smokin’ deal. _What? Hipsters don’t go to bars for the drinks?_ 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2018, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-death-of-cheap-beer-millercoors-boots-pbr/824473/37 "2018-11-14T05:02:46Z")
I suspect that all these legal wrangling is just a negotiation tactic and both sides will come to an agreement, so little will change other than probably the price of these legacy brands going up. That said, there’s some rumors that Pabst is scouting locations in and around the southside of Chicago to open up a first-party brewery that would brew some or all of their brands. Would be great if this happened. It’s said that most of these legacy brands taste very little like the original version because Miller essentially makes one or two bases (green beers) that are then hopped/cellared in slightly different ways to create some variation in the flavors, but this isn’t much in line with the real recipes. My favorite legacy beer has always been Schlitz and at some point in the last decade or so they actual switched to something closer to the original pre-consolidation recipe and it’s amazing. It’s basically Midwestern Yuengling - amber, malty, beer flavored - as opposed to the stale PBR-like (Stroh’s-like?) flavor of the crappy 80-90’s version. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2018, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-death-of-cheap-beer-millercoors-boots-pbr/824473/38 "2018-11-14T13:19:21Z")
A buddy of mine is nervous about this situation. He plays bass in a local metal band that is sponsored by PBR. In exchange for drinking PBR and displaying some PBR art at gigs, they get pretty much all the PBR they can drink. I stopped at his house the other day and there were 8 cases stacked in his game room. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2018, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-death-of-cheap-beer-millercoors-boots-pbr/824473/39 "2018-11-14T13:29:46Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > My favorite legacy beer has always been Schlitz and at some point in the last decade or so they actual switched to something closer to the original pre-consolidation recipe and it’s amazing. It’s basically Midwestern Yuengling - amber, malty, beer flavored - as opposed to the stale PBR-like (Stroh’s-like?) flavor of the crappy 80-90’s version. I miss the Schlitz of my youth. None of the distributors out here carry the re-re-formulated version, so I haven’t had a chance to really compare the new one to my memories much. Getting their own brewery would be a good thing for Pabst. I’d hate to see all the legacy brands disappear, even if they are mostly crap. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2018, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-death-of-cheap-beer-millercoors-boots-pbr/824473/40 "2018-11-14T14:26:13Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > … > > It’s said that most of these legacy brands taste very little like the original version because Miller essentially makes one or two bases (green beers) that are then hopped/cellared in slightly different ways to create some variation in the flavors, but this isn’t much in line with the real recipes. My favorite legacy beer has always been Schlitz and at some point in the last decade or so they actual switched to something closer to the original pre-consolidation recipe and it’s amazing. It’s basically Midwestern Yuengling - amber, malty, beer flavored - as opposed to the stale PBR-like (Stroh’s-like?) flavor of the crappy 80-90’s version. There was a bar in my youth that had 50 cent taps beers and Schlitz was quite potable back then in 1990-91. I wonder if the supply they got was different than what your talking about. It had the most flavor and most color of the three cheap tap beers. I think PBR and Schaefer were the other 2. Doing a little googling, it looks like Schlitz wasn’t acquired by Pabst until 1999. The brewing history is not easy to find though once they sold their brewery in the 70s. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-death-of-cheap-beer-millercoors-boots-pbr/824473.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-death-of-cheap-beer-millercoors-boots-pbr/824473.md?page=3)